New York Times best-selling novelist Timothy Zahn doesnot take any credit for reviving the “Star Wars” franchise with his1991 novel, “Heir to the Empire,” the first in a line of novels basedon auteur George Lucas’ iconic space opera franchise

“I had no idea it would be that successful: No one did,”said Zahn, 59, a 1973 Michigan State University alumnus who lives inOregon. “The storyline was decent; fans did like it. But the books soldnot because of my name, but because it was ‘Star Wars.’ It was a riskyventure. In 1991, no one knew if anyone even cared about ‘Star Wars.’The interest was still out there, but there was really nothing new.People say I revived ‘Star Wars.’ Not true. I just stuck a fork in thepie crust to see if any steam would come out — and it did. I prefer tosay that I tapped into something already there. I take no credit forrestarting it.”

Last month, Random House published a 20th anniversaryedition of “Heir” — the first in what is called “The Thrawn Trilogy.”Zahn called it a “director’s cut version" of the novel, complete withmore than 200 annotations; an introduction by himself; a foreword byHoward Roffman, president of Lucas Licensing, a subsidiary ofLucasfilm; an afterward by Betsy Mitchell,vice-president/editor-in-chief of Del Rey Books, a division of RandomHouse that publishes “Star Wars” novels; and Zahn’s novella, “Crisis ofFaith,” which features Grand Admiral Thrawn, the villain Zahn createdthat has become one of the most popular non-movie characters in thefranchise.

In addition, Zahn’s latest “Star Wars” novel, “Choices of One,” was recently released. This is his ninth “Star Wars” novel.

“I drifted away from ‘Star Wars’ with a couple of otherprojects," Zahn explained. "It seemed that it might be time to dosomething ‘Star Wars’ again, so I had my agent contact Shelly Shapiro(editor of the ‘Star Wars’ books).”

“Unbeknownst to me at this same time, they were thinkingabout of looking at the 20th anniversary of ‘Heir to the Empire’ andthinking maybe it’d be a good idea for me to do a new book for thatsame year. We came to a meeting of the minds. I proposed ‘Choices ofOne.’ They accepted it, and I went ahead and wrote it.”

“Choices” features Thrawn and Mara Jade, another popularnon-movie character Zahn created. It occurs between 1977’s “Star Wars:A New Hope” — the first movie in “Star Wars” franchise that introducedLuke, Han Solo, Princess Leia, and Darth Vader into the pop cultureconsciousness — and 1980’s “The Empire Strikes Back.” Of the main “StarWars” characters, Han Solo (portrayed by Harrison Ford in the originalmovies) is the central character in “Choices.”

“(This) area hasn’t been explored nearly as much as someother eras,” said Zahn. “Trying to do anything past ‘Return of theJedi’ (the final film in the original trilogy before the prequels beganwith 1999’s “Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace”), you’re likelyto run into other authors writing at the same time and with the dangerof stepping on each other’s toes without knowing it.

“Also, this era is a fun one to write in: You’ve got theEmpire at the height of its power; Vader running around, being anuisance to the Rebellion; Han still not committing himself; Leia asstrong and stolid as usual; Luke still struggling with the wholequestion of what it is to be a Jedi; and Mara Jade running around asthe Emperor’s Hand. There are just a lot of interesting things you cando here. (‘Empire’) is my favorite of the six movies anyway. Puttingsomething around that era is a fun thing to do.”

Zahn prefers the original trilogy compared to the prequels.

“I think the chemistry between actors and charactersworks somewhat better. It would’ve been nice to see a developingrelationship between Obi Wan and Qui-Gon Jinn but we didn’t have timefor that. We have three movies for Han, Luke and Leia to grow and tochange and to build relationships. We’ve got only two for Anakin andPadme because in the first one, there really isn’t much of arelationship there. For me, the chemistry isn’t there (in the prequels)in the same amount.”

When asked what gives his “Star Wars” novels such staying power, Zahn humbly said he has no idea.

“I do the best I can and just hope I’ve resonated withthe readers,” Zahn said. “It’s always surprising to me when I getsomething right. As a writer, I don’t know if I finished a book if it’sany good. I don’t know how the reader will relate.

“To have Mara hit such a sympathetic note with so manyreaders is awesome to me. You always hope for that but you never reallyexpect it, so you’re always kind of surprised when it happens — verypleasantly surprised, but still comes as something of a surprise.”

It’s made for an exciting 20 years, Zahn said.

“No one knew whether there were still ‘Star Wars’ fansout there back in 1991. ‘Star Wars’ fandom is alive, well, kicking, andstronger than ever. It’s a great deal of fun and an honor to be part ofthat.”